Recent

MISCELLANEOUS G.A. FOR IBPS CLERKS MAIN --

1. Shekhar Kapur to head jury and Anil Kapoor to be
chief guest at IFFI 2015. The Man Who Knew Infinity, a British film on Indian
mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan’s life, will open the 46th edition and Spain
will be the focus country of the IFFI 2015.

5. Allahabad HC asked UP government to stop sale and
use of Chinese Manjha.

6. CCEA approved implementation of CCTNS and ICJS
Project by March 2017 to revamp Criminal Justice System. The Project will be
implemented through integrating CCTNS with e-Courts, e-prisons, Forensics and
Prosecution, which are the key components of the Criminal Justice System.

8. President promulgated Ordinances on Constitution of
Commercial Courts and Amendment to the Arbitration & Conciliation Act 1996.
The ordinance on amending the Arbitration and Conciliation Act 1996 seeks
amendments based on the Law Commission’s recommendations of 246th reports and
suggestions received from stakeholders.

9. Union Cabinet approved amendments to Payment of
Bonus Act 1965 hiking bonus for Industrial workers. According to the decision,
the bonus ceiling under the legislation was increased from 3500 rupees to 7000
rupees per month.

10. a) The government flagged off the ‘Science Express
Climate Action Special’ train from Delhi, as part of its initiative to
sensitize the masses, especially children and the youth, about the issue of
climate change, in the run-up to the global climate summit in Paris slated for
December. b) The train will run till 7 May 2016 and during the course of these
eight months, it would stop at 64 locations across India, covering over 19,500
kilometres. The Science Express—a joint initiative of the ministry of
environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC), the ministry of railways and
the ministry of science and technology.

12. Union Cabinet approved Productivity Linked Bonus
for railway employees. It is estimated that the total payment of 78 days' PLB
to railway employees will be around 1030.02 crore rupees.

13. Union Government has reduced the deadline for
completion of flagship Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) for rural
connectivity through all- weather roads from 2022 to 2019.

14. Union Cabinet approved Framework for Cooperation
in Blue Economy between India and Seychelles. India and Seychelles signed the
protocol for cooperation in the field of blue economy on 26 August 2015 during
the visit of the President of Seychelles to India.

15. Two mountaineers ArjunVajpai and Bhupesh Kumar
created history by becoming first people to climb 6180 meter high unnamed peak
in Himachal’s Spiti Valley. The duo named the peak as Mount Kalam.. Newly named
Mt. Kalam is located near Bara Shigri Glacier, largest glacier located in
Himachal Pradesh. 16. Airports Authority of India (AAI) signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MoU) with IL&FS Global Financial Services to spread its
wings overseas.. Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited
(IL&FS) is one of India's leading infrastructure development and finance
companies.

17. The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has
entered into 11 more unilateral Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs) with Indian
subsidiaries of foreign companies operating in various segments of the economy.
With this, CBDT so far has entered into 31 APAs (30 unilateral and one
bilateral) and is now aiming to finalise another 30 to 40 APAs in order to
provide stability and confidence among the foreign enterprises operating in
India. What is Advance Pricing Agreements (APAs)? APA usually is signed between
a taxpayer and the central tax authority (in case of India it is CBDT) for
multiple years on an appropriating transfer pricing methodology.

18. National
Highways Authorities of India (NHAI) has approved a pilot project for
undertaking scientific studies on designing greenbelts along national highways.
Key facts: a) The pilot project will be implemented on a 5 km stretch on NH-7
(Varanasi to Kanyakumari) between Jam and Hinganghat in Nagpur region. 1. b)
Around 20,000 scientifically chosen species of trees are proposed to be planted
on both sides of this stretch in multiple rows at an estimated cost of 11 crore
80 lakh rupees. The project will run for five years’ time span. During this
period various experiments will be conducted in NEERI laboratory to record the
impact of greenbelt development.

19. The Ministry of Civil Aviation released Revised
Draft National Civil Aviation Policy (NCAP 2015). The policy aims at providing
a favourable environment and a level playing field to various aviation sub-sectors,
such as Airlines, Airports, Cargo, Maintenance Repairs and Overhaul (MRO)
services and so on. Besides, the scheme also intends to create an eco-system to
enable 30 crore domestic ticketing by 2022 and 50 crore by 2027.

20. Railway is launching a new scheme under which
waitlisted passengers can get confirmed accommodation in next alternative train
if they opt for the option while booking their tickets online named as Viklap.

21. The Asia Pacific region is the most disaster prone
part of the world as it had suffered around 1,625 disasters in the decade
through 2014. It was revealed in recently released 2015 United Nations
Asia-Pacific Disaster Report.

22. Tata Trusts and Harvard University South Asia
Institute (SAI) announced collaboration on knowledge creation and capacity
building for social and economic empowerment in India.

23. First-ever Hindi Atlas Book on “Mars Orbiter
Mission (MOM)’ in New Delhi. The book on the occasion of the first meeting of
reconstituted ‘Joint Hindi Salahkar Samiti’ of the Department of Space and
Department of Atomic Energy.

24. Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
enhanced delegated financial powers of designated Central Government Hospitals
and institutes under the Rashtriya Arogya Nidhi (RAN) scheme. After the
enhancement, only cases for financial assistance beyond 5 lakh rupees would now
be required to be referred to the Ministry from the earlier upper limit of 2
lakh rupees per patient.

25. Public
broadcaster Doordarshan claimed that it has emerged as the most watched Hindi
channel in terms of time spent per viewer ahead of top General Entertainment
Channels.

26. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu announced that the
Railways would soon start country's first-ever double decker Shatabdi Express
that would ply between Mumbai and Goa.

27. National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has
partnered with about 30 Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) to jointly tackle and
mitigate man-made or natural disasters or emergencies.

28. Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu on 25 October 2015
flagged off Vigithon marathon in Mumbai to sensitise people for a fight against
corruption at the grass-root level. Vigithon was a run for corruption free
India and was organised by public sector lender Union Bank of India

29. Chennai’s K Prithika Yashini is all set to become India’s first transgender
Sub Inspector of Police

30. Noted Indian social reformer and founder of NGO
sulabh International Bindeshwar Pathak, was included in “The Global Diversity
List” of 50 top world personalities by The Economist. 31. State run insurer,
Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) has launched its maiden unit linked
insurance plan (ULIP) product across the country. The ULIP which is also called
as ‘New Endowment Plus’ offers investment-cum-insurance provision during the
term policy providing dual benefit for the policy holder.

32. Taj Mahal becomes first monument in world to have
Twitter account.

33. ICICI Lombard General Insurance has tied up with
Catholic Syrian Bank (CSB) for sale of its products through 431 branches of the
bank.

34. The Registrar General & Census Commissioner of
India (RGI) released data of Census 2011 on Highest Educational Level obtained
among population attending educational institution by age and sex. Literate
population who are presently attending any educational institution on the country,
below Primary (major share of 32.6%). Primary (25.2%), Middle (15.7%), Matric
(11.1%), Higher Secondary (8.6%) and Graduate above (4.5%)